The government of Upper Nile state says insecurity in the state has delayed the payment of two-month salaries for the civil servants.

The state Minister of Information, Philip Jiben, said the salaries for January and February have not been paid to civil servants because of frequent clashes between government forces and the forces of the SPLA-in Opposition in Upper Nile.

Mr. Jiben told Eye Radio’s Dawn Program that the state government is planning to pay the salaries.

“For that matter, as a state government, we apologize to the state citizens. It was not in our interest to delay the salary,” said Mr Jiben.

“The salary for January and February are there and will be paid to people. We as a government, we don’t want to have any problem in the area of salaries.”

Mr. Jiben said the state government and its partners are speeding up the cleaning of Malakal town to allow the civilians to return to their homes.